Sainsbury’s holds pitch for consumer fightback

The country's third-largest supermarket is one year into King's much-touted plan to 'make Sainsbury's great again'. It has shortlisted five agencies to hammer home 'strong consumer messages' as part of its 'Try Something New Today' strategy.

Sainsbury's unveiled its interim results this Wednesday – with first-half pre-tax profits of £118m, just below expectations of £121m. Like-for-like sales excluding petrol were up just over two per cent. It said its bid to regain market share was 'on track' as it chops prices and resolves long-running supply-chain troubles.

Hill & Knowlton, Porter Novelli, Good Relations, Blue Rubicon and FD Consumer Dynamics (part of City PR firm Financial Dynamics) are in the running for the business.

The pitch is being overseen by director of comms Pip Wood, alongside press office head Gillian Taylor and consumer PR managers Sarah Leaman and Mel Cooke.

Taylor said: 'We are in the early stages of bringing in an agency to complement our in-house team.'

Sainsbury's has just launched its pre-Christmas campaign, with TV ads featuring Jamie Oliver.